ROMELL KNOWLES, president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee.

As of Wednesday, June 24, 2020

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#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#After making an announcement last month that they have formed a committee to assist developing athletes, the Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) has made good on its promise through its newly-formed Athletes Welfare Commission.

#The Athletes Welfare Commission, headed by Roy Colebrook, one of the vice presidents of the BOC, was mandated to assist athletes from all disciplines to reach their full potentials in preparation for local, regional and international competitions.

#The assistance, which will account to about $30,000, will not be available to professional athletes or those who are under contracts with companies such as Adidas, Puma and Nike, according to BOC President Romell Knowles.

#“Fortunately, there are athletes already on Olympic scholarships, and some who have government subventions,” Knowles said.

#“So, there is a level of support already for some athletes. But these commission grants are for other athletes who have less support available to them. The assistance to the athletes will depend on their specific needs.”

#Knowles noted that if there is an over subscription of athletes for the $30,000, then the BOC will look at it in a case-by-case for each athlete.

#This is the first of an ongoing process in which the BOC will provide assistance to the athletes through the Welfare Committee, which will now receive a budget to support the athletes each year.

#Applicants in this initial process have until July 3 to have their applications returned to the BOC. Successful applicants will be notified within three weeks of the application deadline.

#Knowles noted that the immediate support is intended to assist athletes who are still eligible to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, which has been postponed and is now scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

#“There are any number of needs that an athlete would have on the road to a qualifying event,” said Knowles.

#“Whether it is equipment, transportation, dietary supplements or some other resource, the athletes are facing tremendous obstacles to be in the best position to compete.

#“The Commission’s job is to look at the applications and assist as best we can, the best ways the BOC can help relieve some of those burdens.”

#Athletes on a case-by-case basis will be able to apply for assistance that would be a contribution toward their training and preparation for the games.

#Knowles noted that the national sports federations will be the point of contact for athletes. They will have access to applications through their national governing body.

#Once an athlete has completed an application, it must be endorsed by the federation and returned to the BOC through the federation.

#With the Bahamas riding out the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, like other ministries, saw a cut in the funding allocated in the government’s 2020/2021 budget that was just passed in the House of Assembly.

#In those cuts, subventions to athletes is also expected to be reduced. Knowles was agitating for the ministry to keep the athletes’ subvention at the figures they were before COVID-19.

#In her contribution to the budget debate, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Lanisha Rolle informed the nation that every effort would be made to assist the athletes.

#Knowles, however, said the BOC was hard pressed to assist, thus the formation of the Athletes Welfare Commission.

#While the figures are nowhere near what the athletes would receive from their subventions, Knowles claimed that they are delighted to be able to assist them in some small way in these hard economic times.

#Some athletes, who are based in the United States where they are training, have indicated that they are in need of assistance as they are also affected by the decline in the American economy where thousands of persons have been laid off or suffered job losses as a result of COVID-19.

#With the border expected to open up on July 1 for international travel to and from the United States, some of the athletes claim that they will be forced to return home until the economy picks up again.

#In addition to that, the United States is going through a resurgence of the coronavirus in the majority of their cities and there is an ongoing protest for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign in wake of the death of African American George Floyd by a white policeman in Minnesota on May 24.

As of Thursday, June 18, 2020

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#By RENALDO DORSETT

#Tribune Sports Reporter

#rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

#As the status of the 2020 Major League Baseball season hangs in the balance, the organisation made a decision that could affect several Bahamian prospects.

#MLB officially announced that the International Signing Period will be postponed from its traditional July 2 date and will now begin on January 15.

#According to Baseball America, the move was another cost cutting measure by the MLB as negotiations on the 2020 season continue.

#“The MLBPA agreed to allow teams to defer all but $100,000 of draft signing bonuses into 2021 and 2022, but international amateurs signing bonuses were not automatically deferred in that March agreement,” the report said. “With MLB teams across baseball trying to save on cash flow, pushing the signing period to next January will keep teams issuing from multi-million dollar cheques this summer, pushing those expenses into 2021 instead.”

#International Elite Sports Academy products Adari Grant and Kristin Munroe were listed by MLB Pipeline as some of the top infield prospects in the current class and were considered highly sought after prospects. The Bahamian pair were the only players from the English-speaking Caribbean on a list dominated by prospects from the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela.

#The players who are eligible to sign (anyone who turns 16 by August 31 this year) will remain the same in the delayed signing period which will conclude December 15, 2021. The current 2019-20 international signing period was set to expire earlier this week, but was extended through October 15, 2020. Despite the extension, teams are unable to sign players due to the MLB’s transaction freeze.

#The international signing period is a time when many Bahamian prospects have signed minor league deals in recent years.

#MLB is negotiating a proposal that could lead to a shortened season that begins in July. The MLB draft was also shortened to just five rounds.

#The international signing period is when major league clubs sign amateurs from anywhere outside the United States. MLB can push the 2020-21 period back to January 2021, and the 2021-22 period back to January 2022. Teams will also not be allowed to trade international bonus slots in 2020 or 2021.

#As a byproduct of the COVID-19 fallout there has also been a reported agreement in place with the MLB to reduce the number of minor league affiliate teams by 40.

#MiLB currently fields 160 teams across its various leagues, but that number could be reduced to as much as 120 and the remaining teams could face realignment.

#Prior to the suspension of all baseball activity, many of the 16 Bahamian players in the minor leagues had yet to receive their assignments for the upcoming season. Up to press time last night, the MLB and players’ association continued their negotations. MLB sent a proposal for a 60-game season at full prorated pay.

Bahamian female sprinter Anthonique Strachan is looking forward to getting back on the track and competing for The Bahamas. After suffering a grade two hamstring tear at last year’s Doha World Championships, she said she feels about 90-95 percent healthy.

FILEJune 16, 2020

Sheldon Longley

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The year 2020 has been one of the more stagnant and motionless for sports fans the world over in recent memory, but one of the positive aspects that has come out of it has been that it has allowed athletes to recover from nagging injuries, rest their bodies and come back stronger whenever competition is resumed.

One of those such athletes is Anthonique Strachan who is coming off a grade two hamstring tear, suffered in the semifinals of the women’s 200 meters (m) at the 17th International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) World Championships in Doha, Qatar, last year. The resilient Strachan would be the first to tell you that she loves to compete and is longing for the opportunity to get back on the track, but of paramount concern is to be completely healthy and to operate at her full potential.

Strachan lives and trains out of Kingston, Jamaica – working out as a member of the MVP (Maximizing Velocity and Power) Track and Field Club alongside global superstars such as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Asafa Powell and Elaine Thompson, of Jamaica, and under the watchful eyes of world renowned speed coach Stephen Francis, of Jamaica. During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Strachan said she has been gradually getting back to her normal routine and trying to maintain her focus on the goal at hand which is to qualify for the Olympics and represent The Bahamas well at that level.

“I’ve been coping really well. I’ve been doing my normal activities and training on a regular basis,” she said. “I really haven’t been leaving my residence much, except for essential items and to train. Whenever I go out, I’m very self conscious as to how close I am to people. I’ve also been more conscious of washing my hands on a regular basis and wiping down things. Training has changed drastically. Usually at this time, I’m in competition shape and ready to compete. Right now, I don’t know where I’m at competition-wise.”

Strachan, 26, entered the senior ranks as the IAAF’s Female Rising Star in 2013. She had one of the most decorated careers a junior athlete could have, as a two-time double sprint champion at CARIFTA, and a two-time Austin Sealy Award winner at the CARIFTA Games. She was also a double sprint champion at the IAAF World Junior Championships.

A slew of injuries slowed her progress on the senior side. Strachan has shown flashes of brilliance since, but never duplicated the production she had on the junior side. In the midst of what she considers to be the prime of her career, she said she is looking forward to continuing to get better as time goes on. The presence of the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered her progress a bit, forcing her and her teammates to train at an alternative venue, but she said she is taking everything in stride and is optimistic for the immediate future.

“I’m using this year to correct minor things and focus on what areas I need to improve on. I’m still hopeful that I will be able to compete in some meets this year, but if not, I’m okay with that. Right now, I’m just taking it one day at a time and seeing what happens,” she said. “I want to be in some sort of shape and fitness going into the 2021 season. That’s an Olympic year and I’m looking forward to that. Health-wise I feel okay, and I know I’ll feel even better next year – definitely much better than I was in Doha. I feel good. I’m a lil disappointed with the Olympics being pushed back because I felt like I would have been ready to compete this year. However, it’s a pandemic so it’s beyond all of our control. I understand that precautions had to be taken. I’m just looking to improve each and every time out. There are no high expectations – I just want to go out there and do my best.”

Following that setback from Doha last year, Strachan said she has been working hard to get back to where she needs to be to be competitive again. She said she feels about 90-95 percent healthy right now.

“I don’t think anyone in athletics is ever at 100 percent because of all the wear and tear that track and field has on your body. Our bodies take a lot of pounding everyday, but I feel good and I’m ready to go,” said Strachan.

Strachan, who has been training with the MVP Track and Field Club for the past three years, said she is not focussing on coming home to The Bahamas this summer but rather just trying to get as physically strong as she can going into the remainder of 2020 and into the 2021 season.

Strachan has personal best times of 11.20 seconds in the 100m, done during her final year as a junior in 2012, and 22.32 seconds in the 200m, done during her first year as a senior athlete in 2013. She said she is looking forward to competing in her third Olympics, next year in Tokyo, Japan. The Games of the 32nd Olympiad have been postponed to July 23 to August 8, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.